1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device including alignment films formed by a non-contact method, and a method of manufacturing the same. The present invention particularly relates to the LCD device in which accuracy of a film thickness and contour shape of edge portions of the respective alignment films is improved, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in an LCD device, a liquid crystal layer is interposed between a substrate including switching elements and another substrate opposite to this substrate, and alignment films are provided to interfaces each between this liquid crystal layer and the substrates. By applying an alignment treatment such as rubbing to the alignment films, liquid crystal molecules in vicinities of the substrates can be respectively aligned in single directions corresponding to the alignment films, the liquid crystal molecules being in the liquid crystal layer.
As a method of manufacturing the alignment film, a method of manufacturing the same by printing is known. An alignment film printing method of a non-contact type such as an ink-jet method has been proposed for the purpose of such as preventing foreign substances from accreting to the film from a manufacturing device, in a case where the alignment film is printed. In the alignment film printing method of this non-contact type, an alignment film material is discharged as extremely small droplets onto the substrate at equal intervals from a remote position above the substrate. The droplets of the alignment film material, which landed on the substrate, spread as liquid while gradually leveling off by self-weight, thereby an alignment film with a uniform film thickness is expected to be formed.
However, in practice, the droplets of the alignment film material, which landed on the outermost periphery of a printed region, spread as liquid also in the direction toward the periphery of the printed region, therefore the film thickness is unlikely to be uniform in the periphery of the printed region. Moreover, since the droplets of the alignment film material, which landed on the substrate, tend to spread as liquid along patterns such as wirings, there is a problem that controllability of the film thickness and the contour shape in the printing edge portions is poor.